You'll hear a lot of chatter this week about Louisiana State's showdown at Alabama for obvious reasons. Most of the analysis will have a subtle Bama-centric spin to it based on a few widely held assumptions that don't necessarily wash. The pundits, especially on the Disney networks, won't say them all but these perceptions are out there:

1. Nick Saban is smarter than Les Miles.

2. Saban says this might be the best defense he's ever had. If he says that, it must be better than LSU's.

3. Bryant-Denny Stadium will bother an LSU team that generally doesn't play well on the road.

4. Bama's A.J. McCarron is a better, more sensible quarterback than either LSU's Jarrett Lee or Jordan Jefferson.

5. Trent Richardson makes the Bama running game superior to LSU's.

I think they're all either flawed or outdated beliefs. Let's take them one at a time:

1. He is. But that doesn't mean it will matter in this game.

By and large, Miles' main snags in big games have occurred with clock management, not in-game decisions on personnel or scheme. If it's a close game late, especially with LSU behind, this does become a concern. If it's not, it won't be.

2. I think LSU's defense will actually be the better one on the field. The Tigers have a couple of guys who don't quite get the pub of Alabama's linebacker Dont'A Hightower and safety Mark Barron but they are bad dudes.

Both of LSU's starting corners are good. But Morris Claiborne is a bigger, older more consistent cover man than more publicized but tiny soph Tyrann "Honey Badger" Mathieu.

Soph defensive end Barkevious Mingo was not projected necessarily as a starter this year before camp. He's a situational guy, 6-5 and 240, much more effective on passing downs. But he's been a handful recently and has been coming on. What makes him special is incredible speed (4.5 40) for a DE. He was all over the field in the Tigers' 45-10 destruction of Auburn in their last game.

I anticipate the Bengals' run-stoppers to mine their share of third-and-longs against the Tide. When they do, Mingo is going to be a serious problem for Alabama's tackles. His spin move is lethal, he has quick hands, he runs down plays from behind and he's tall and springy enough to alter McCarron's throws.

3. It's true that LSU traditionally is much scarier at home than on the road (6-5 combined away from “Death Valley” in 2009-10). But this is a team led by seasoned upperclassmen and we've seen few of the usual road hiccups this year (4-0) in trips to West Virginia, Mississippi State and Tennessee and in Dallas against Oregon. They will not be frightened by Tuscaloosa.

4. At the start of the season, I'd have agreed with this. Now, I don't.

Lee has pretty much taken over the job from Jefferson (you may remember both as ineffective in the muck at Orlando two years ago) because the latter was suspended the first month. Jefferson still gets a few snaps.

But Lee is a different quarterback than he was last year or the year before. The Texan is making intermediate and deep throws a ton better and his stats show it – a .632 completion percentage, 13 TDs and just 1 pick. This isn't getting much play in the national media but Lee might be a better QB than McCarron at this point.

5. You saw Richardson blow up Penn State in the second half. He is an impressive physical specimen who looks great when he gets a crease.

I just question how many creases he's getting against LSU's defense. By Louisiana State standards, its rush resistance has been so-so the last few seasons. This year, they've been lights-out, most impressively against Oregon and LaMichael James (18-54, 3.0 ypc).

Richardson has a couple of games every year where he seems to disappear at the wrong time. Last year's was at a very bad time – against Auburn in the Iron Bowl (10-24, 2.4 ypc). I wonder how he'll respond if he has to get tough yards at a critical juncture in this one. There's no proof yet he can do that like Mark Ingram did.

So, the Tide opened as a 6-point favorite (now -5) in what everyone anticipates as a low-scoring game. I think that's awfully generous if you're prone toward taking the purple in what's closer to a pick-em.

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